Customer Satisfaction and Reputation Management

Crowd sourcing is a new web technology that allows organizations to tap web users to get feedback or have users help each other with problems they may have. Redesignme is a web service where organizations can solicit input from over 7000 creative users to improve a product, or its marketing, a corporate identity, a package design, or how to bring a product to market.

Many articles are written about how to handle customer satisfaction and customer service issues in businesses that deal with consumers. But Business to Business (B2B) is quite different. This article covers the 7 key differences to be aware of when planning customer satisfaction programs in a business to business context.

Customer Centricity is a new term to capture the thought that customers are central to everything an organization does, including product development, sales, service, marketing and even through its suppliers and channels. IBM has an excellent video called “How it Works: Smarter Commerce” that covers the concept well. Watch the video and review the key points in this blog post.

A recent study by Sysomos, a leading provider of social media monitoring and analytics technology, called Replies and Retweets on Twitter has some very interesting statistics on how fast ‘word of mouth’ spreads and how quickly replies are needed.

A recent CNN Video describes about how Smart phones are starting to be used as payment devices. As this offering becomes more widely spread, customers will start to expect this feature at retail outlets, restaurants, bars, etc. Starbucks is highlighted in the video. Those organizations who fail to keep up with popular offerings by their competitors will find their business and customer satisfaction impacted.

In a recent Toronto Star automotive article titled Phone Apps connect Customers, Dealerships, highlighted an example of how a smart phone application can do away with the need for a customer to call for a car service appointment, thereby eliminating the customer service representative on the other end of the phone. When the customer arrives at the dealership, the service staff is waiting avoiding line ups and paperwork. At the end of the repair, the customer can use a smartphone to pay.

Applications like Yelp exist to rate local restaurants and establishments. Sites can demonstrate their popularity in FourSquare or Facebook Places. A new application is emerging that allows users to rate individuals in an establishment. The Tello and Gripe applications are examples.

I was recently interviewed for an article in ChannelPro Magazine for an article called ‘Dealing with Disaster’. Channel Pro is dedicated to serving the business partner community ( VARs, integrators, custom system builders and Managed Service Providers serving the IT needs of Small and Medium Business. The article focuses on the need for channel partners to have a plan in place to deal with disasters of any kind and the steps to follow.